Cthulhu Clue

[seneschal]

Musing on possible Halloween scenarios, I had a random thought.  What if instead of ramping up the eldritch terror to 11 we drifted in the other direction (or misdirection) a bit?  I'm a fan of both the board game and the comedy movie "Clue."  What can we do with it?

So, we've got our six color-themed player-characters/suspects and a nine-room mansion map complete with secret passages conveniently already laid out in a grid.  We've saved our Keeper some work since it is the players' job to stat out the cast and justify why Professor Plum has Epee 60% and Electronics 45%.  Also, although the game was conceived in the mid-Forties rather than the Twenties it still has that early modern historical elan special to Call of Cthulhu. So far, so good.

 

[seneschal]

A little quick-and-dirty internet research gives a bit more to work with.  As originally conceived there were ten characters, including the murder victim who began the game alive in true Agatha Christie fashion.  So our Keeper now has 4-5 NPCs of his own devising to bedevil the players with.  Also, the mansion had 11 rooms (add gun room and cellar) which we can assume are accessible via one of those aforementioned secret passages.  Can you say "secret locations"?

Mrs. White was originally Nurse White (hence the white uniform), so we've got someone with medical training in the party even if the players didn't think of it.  In like fashion, Mr. Green was first Rev. Green (or Vicar Green if you're an Anglophile like Lovecraft), so we've got the scholarly spiritual expert angle covered.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cluedo

https://cluecluedo.fandom.com/wiki/Clue_(board_game)

https://www.google.com/amp/s/slate.com/human-interest/2016/07/clue-changes-out-mrs-white-a-housekeeper-for-dr-orchid-a-female-scientist.amp

We don't yet have a plot but we do have a setting, characters, game map with hidden areas. A lazy GM might just unleash the PCs in the house and let them go crazy.  Throw in a couple death traps stolen from "13 Dead End Drive" and you've amped up the tension:  Where can we go from here?

Edited October 17, 2019 by seneschal
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[seneschal]

Our standard victim, Mr. Boddy, begins as a corpse in modern "Clue" editions, a mere cypher who exists only to give us an excuse to solve a mystery.  But the 1985 movie raised the question, "Who is this guy anyway?"  How is he rich enough to maintain a fancy mansion with all the comfortable trimmings?  How is he influential enough to invite six upper-class professionals, strangers, and they actually show up?  In Call of Cthulhu it would matter.  Is he a retired criminal?  A philanthropist?  A Yithian agent or a serpent man masquerading as human?

For what it is worth, some recent Clue editions refer to Boddy as Dr. Black, who apparently had a lucrative enough practice to afford whatever Hasbro is calling the mansion this year.  He is also apparently the adoptive father of Clue's newest character, Dr. Orchid, a sinister female toxicologist.

Boddy Mansion has also been variously known as Tudor House or Tudor Mansion.  Can we safely assume it is the same place?  Or does it shift and change and travel through Lovecraftian dimensions as easily as Brown Jenkin?  Maybe that's the real reason Mr. Boddy's guests don't simply leave his house:

Edited October 17, 2019 by seneschal
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[Travern]

Are we going to entertain the possibility that one of the PCs is the murderer or does that over-complicate the scenario?

[seneschal]

Up to you, but certainly a possibility.  Both the board game and the movie imply heavily that however respectable the PCs may appear, they may not be on the up and up.  Just as in Paranoia or Gamma World, the player-characters have personal secrets they'd rather others not know, even if actual criminal penalties aren't a risk.

Possible secrets:

-- An illegitimate child

--  A divorce or annulled marriage

--A bad career move or business failure

-- An unflattering service record from the Great War

--Mixed ancestry (depending on your campaign's specific setting)

-- Unpaid taxes or debts

-- Had the wrong friends in college and now they won't leave you alone

-- Your boss or business partner is getting all the profits and credit for your hard work

Would the adventurers kill to keep such truths hidden?  Of course they would!

Edited October 11, 2019 by seneschal
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[seneschal]

The heart of horror is vulnerability, and our "Clue"-based setup has the PCs exposed before we even add in the Mythos.  They are in the home of a rich and powerful stranger who seems to know much more about them than they'd like.  They are surrounded by a small group of folks who may be in the same straits, but they don't know whom they can trust.  The mansion is large and dark, filled with odd corners (and possibly deathtraps).

Having an oversized earthworm suddenly burst through the floorboards seems ... excessive. So what sort of Mythos threat is appropriate?

[seneschal]

On 10/11/2019 at 11:11 AM, Travern said:

Are we going to entertain the possibility that one of the PCs is the murderer or does that over-complicate the scenario?

I've given it 24 hours but my brainstormer isn't yet giving me anything new.  Any comments, ideas, suggestions y'all would like to add to the mix to get me started again?  Halloween won't wait, and I don't want to miss out on the chocolate.  👽

[g33k]

Hmmm.

Mr. Boddy has no body.  But isn't dead.  He isn't a ghost, precisely -- he has used some mythos-tech to float his consciousness into other people.  He can control them while they sleep, spy quietly out through their eyes while they wake and move about, maybe even spy into their thoughts... and/or dreams.

Just a brief thought; dunno that it leads anywhere productive.

(Edit:  also -- horror/comedic bodyswap hijinks!)

Edited October 16, 2019 by g33k

[seneschal]

The Usual Suspects

Vicar Green, cagey clergyman

Dirty Secret:  A whiff of infidelity.  The Reverend Green did not, in fact, attempt an inappropriate relationship with Mrs. Agnes St. Cloud.  He had instead urged her to return to her husband, Julian, and attempt to repair her troubled marriage.  But the distraught lady threw herself into his arms in full view of the choirboys and Green was obliged to seize her rather than allow her to smash her face into the heavy oaken church furniture.  Juicy news travels fast, the Bishop had disapproved of some his sermons, and Julian St. Cloud was a jealous and influential man.  Although eventually cleared of wrongdoing by a Church inquiry, Green found himself transferred to a remote and inauspicious pastorate.  He clings to his faith in God but his faith in his fellow men has been severely tried.

[Atgxtg]

Just a stray thought: what if you made all the PCs monsters? That could really push things in the opposite direction.

"Mr. Body" could also be a monster of some sort (probably something easy to kill like a ghoul, so all the options could still work).

[seneschal]

10 hours ago, g33k said:

Hmmm.

Mr. Boddy has no body.  But isn't dead.  He isn't a ghost, precisely -- he has used some mythos-tech to float his consciousness into other people.  He can control them while they sleep, spy quietly out through their eyes while they wake and move about, maybe even spy into their thoughts... and/or dreams.

Just a brief thought; dunno that it leads anywhere productive.

(Edit:  also -- horror/comedic bodyswap hijinks!)

Good idea, and one that could go silly or scary upon the players or Keeper's whim.

[seneschal]

1 hour ago, Atgxtg said:

Just a stray thought: what if you made all the PCs monsters? That could really push things in the opposite direction.

"Mr. Body" could also be a monster of some sort (probably something easy to kill like a ghoul, so all the options could still work).

Like the sideways thinking.  That's what we need here.  But if the PCs are powerful monsters, where is the threat to them?  If those stupid human NPCs get in their way they can just squash them. And our Clue scenario is all about the PCs feeling vulnerable.

[seneschal]

The Usual Suspects

Nurse White, angel of mercy or angel of death?

Dirty Secret:  A patient died on her watch.  Unavoidable medical tradedy, or did she help out?

[Atgxtg]

7 hours ago, seneschal said:

Like the sideways thinking.  That's what we need here.  But if the PCs are powerful monsters, where is the threat to them?  If those stupid human NPCs get in their way they can just squash them. And our Clue scenario is all about the PCs feeling vulnerable.

• What if it isn't a stupid human they need to fear but another monster? All the staff at the mansion could be monsters too. For isntance, imagine that Mr. Body had various monsters working for him , including some realy nasty ones, and he still winds up dead? If something is powerful enough to get to him, what chance to the PCs have? Think of Mr. Body as King Kong and the PKs as  Bigfoot.
• A group of all Cryptids might work too.
• Maybe the PKs could be threaten with exposure and need to solve the murder before their cover is blown. Imagine if somebody had actual proof of the Mythos and was going to reveal it all to the public.
• Or maybe Mr. Body had control of something that the PK need, such as access to lots of wealth. Vampires don't keep Banker's hours. So if they want to buy a old mansion or something they'd need a middle man to do the legwork. The PKs would not only need to solve his murder, but retrieve his notebook/data to access their accounts (Swiss Bank Accounts?) so they don't loose millions.
• Note that if Mr. Body or someoneelse is ripping the PKs off of millions, they probably know what the Pks weaknesses are and would try to destroy the PKs. You could play with this with a couple of near (or not so near) misses that exploit the Pks weaknesses. Holy Water, Silver Bullets, Elder Signs.
• Along those lines, if all the PKs were vampires, you could put a Hall of Mirrors in the mansion, or maybe a Sun Room with tanning lights that actually hurt vampires. 
• If the murder took place of Halloween you could have trick or treaters show up (and maybe use water pistol to squirt holy water on the PKs), and/or have the get together for the murder be a costume party
• Oh, and if you are going all Agatha Christie here you could have Mr. Body fake his own death for some reason, like say he wanted to keep the PK combined fortunes, so he faked his own death. 
• Another take on the costume party would be if the murder were one of those "solve a muder" games that went horribly wrong. The hired servants/guards won't let any of the people inside leave until the murder has been solved, or time runs out, and they won't make exceptions even after the game turns real. If the Pks are humans then they would have until midnight, when everybody would unmask (and the PKs would be revealed to the monsters). If the PKs are monsters, say vampires, then they would need to get out and back to thier coffin by dawn, or before the fire-sprinklers come on (holy water).
• all the PKs were humans trying to solve the murder before midnight when everybody reveals themselves (and the monsters kill off the humans). The servants/guards won't let anybody leave before the murder has been solved. 

Just brainstorming some ideas there.

[seneschal]

Heh, you are scaring me, Atgxtg.  Such evil deviousness.  🙀

[Atgxtg]

36 minutes ago, seneschal said:

Heh, you are scaring me, Atgxtg.  Such evil deviousness.  🙀

My players won't let me play Melniboeans anymore. 😵

One of the devious horror stories that people still talk about was the time when the platyers were holed up in a village being terrorized by a Vampire. People were "safe' Only becuase the Vampire hadn't gotten an invite tot he house the players were in. The Vamp had tried to influence somone to let him in but the players prevented that. This lead to something of a faceoff with one of the PCs taunting the Vampire from within the house. 

The vampire retorted. "Why do you come out here and say that!"

The PC responded, "Why do you come...err, stay outside! " The players eyes widened in mid sentence when they realize just how close they came to being tricked into giving the vampire an invitation.  That was evil deviousness.            

 

 

 

 

[seneschal]

Even though Clue was devised in the 1940s it very much reflected a 19-teens/1920s sub-genre, the old dark house mystery.  This was present in pop culture in novels, silent films, radio shows and talkies.

Here are some notable examples for Keeper inspiration and help getting the players in the proper mood:

Mary Roberts Rinehart, "The Circular Staircase."  Rinehart was an American author who actually out-sold Agatha Christie for awhile.  Very old school but her mysteries will make you care about her protagonists and keep you guessing.  "Staircase" was revised for film several times as "The Bat". My favorite version is the 1959 one starring Vincent Price.

"The Cat and the Canary" (1927) -- Although the 1939 Bob Hope film is certainly fun, this silent original is a true classic.  Heirs gathered for the reading of a will find themselves stalked by a mysterious killer.

"The Old Dark House" (1932) -- Stranded motorists are trapped by weather in the shadowy house of a very strange family.  Boris Karloff as the butler is not to be missed.

"The Green Archer" (1940) -- Based on a novel by prolific author and screenwriter Edgar Wallace, this energetic Republic Pictures movie serial depicts the contest between a criminal mastermind and a mysterious masked bowman who seems to be able to be everywhere at once.  Superhero fisticuffs, secret rooms, deathtraps galore -- this one had it all!

Edited October 19, 2019 by seneschal

[seneschal]

So, Travern, g33k, Atgxtg, what do you think?  Have we pushed our Clue scenario idea as far.as it will go?  Is there enough material here to run a one-shot if not a campaign?  Have we covered all our bases as far as scenario design is concerned or is there something else we've missed?  Most importantly, could you sit your players down with a used game board from Goodwill and our musings here and actually play this out with them?

[Atgxtg]

Oh you definitely got enough for an adventure. I think you'd need more for a campaign, although I think you do have enough to start a mystery campaign. The idea being that you could leave a lot of things for the characters to discover in play.

More evil deviousness, but what if the PC all had no memory of their past lives and had to figure that out too, based upon the clues provided in the adventure? That would be rather stressful if there is a dead body. Somebody is probably a murder and it might even be you! The amnesia could be spell or drug induced and temporary, but should last long enough for the adventure. Imagine if you were sitting a table with a bunch of strangers, in fine clothing, and you just put down your glass of wine or Spring Water (Lethe Springs?) and suddenly the man at the end of the table drops his glass and keels over. He's dead and you...don't know who you are, who anybody else is, where you are, and why you are here! End evil deviousness.

 

Oh, and how about the House is on a private island, or in some remote mountain location? That way the PCs can't leave and any phone lines could be knocked out somehow (a storm is an old reliable trope), and in the modern day the place is too remote for a cell phone signal.

 

Oh, and if you are going to use the Clue Board then maybe you should find a way to recuse the cards? Maybe the could give bonuses to certain rolls. You're probably going to want more than just the logic puzzle/process of elimination game of Clue, but you could use the cards as clues in the RPG. 

 

 

 

 

Edited October 19, 2019 by Atgxtg

[seneschal]

Thank you, sir.  I had been avoiding dealing with the other board game components, but  I will noodle over what we can do with those cards.  Also, we should probably at least list the BRP stats for the traditional Clue arsenal, even though it doesn't really affect what we've done here.  Boddy Mansion is huge and crammed with stuff, some of it dangerous.  As with the rooms and suspects, the weapons catalog has changed over time.  At one point there was a syringe from Nurse White's medical bag.  Yikes!!

[seneschal]

The Arsenal

Interesting that five of these 12 weapons are some sort of heavy club, so their damage and skill requirements would be identical.  We have two poison options (bottle, syringe).  The knife has also been called a dagger, which gives us a hint as to how big it is and how much damage it does.  The revolver is at least a medium.  The bomb is a souvenir from the Great War.  Boddy probably used it as a paperweight, not realizing it is still live and growing unstable.  The rope and axe are simply gardening tools associated with the Conservatory.

Candlestick

Knife

Lead Pipe

Rope

Revolver

Wrench

Syringe

Axe

Bomb

Fireplace Poker

Walking Stick

Poison

Edited October 25, 2019 by seneschal
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[Atgxtg]

You don't need poison to kill someone with a syringe. You can inject an air bubble into their bloodstream. That's why doctors and nurses ans so careful to squeeze out a little medicine before administering the hypodermic.

I think the cards could be to to represent some hidden knowledge about the subject on the card or provide soem sort of skill or skill bonus. For instance if someone draws the revolver they might have experience with it and raise their skill. If someone draws Col. Mustard, then they might have met him in the past and know something about him. You might even hold back a few of the character points to let the cards sort things out. This approach would work well with the idea of the characters starting with some form of amnesia, as the cards would literaly be clues to their own identity.

 

Or if you wanted to run with a time limit the cards could be the next weapon, location and victim. Somebody could die every hour until the PC solve the case.

[Old Man Henerson]

On 10/17/2019 at 7:02 AM, Atgxtg said:

• What if it isn't a stupid human they need to fear but another monster? All the staff at the mansion could be monsters too. For isntance, imagine that Mr. Body had various monsters working for him , including some realy nasty ones, and he still winds up dead? If something is powerful enough to get to him, what chance to the PCs have? Think of Mr. Body as King Kong and the PKs as  Bigfoot.
• A group of all Cryptids might work too.
• Maybe the PKs could be threaten with exposure and need to solve the murder before their cover is blown. Imagine if somebody had actual proof of the Mythos and was going to reveal it all to the public.
• Or maybe Mr. Body had control of something that the PK need, such as access to lots of wealth. Vampires don't keep Banker's hours. So if they want to buy a old mansion or something they'd need a middle man to do the legwork. The PKs would not only need to solve his murder, but retrieve his notebook/data to access their accounts (Swiss Bank Accounts?) so they don't loose millions.
• Note that if Mr. Body or someoneelse is ripping the PKs off of millions, they probably know what the Pks weaknesses are and would try to destroy the PKs. You could play with this with a couple of near (or not so near) misses that exploit the Pks weaknesses. Holy Water, Silver Bullets, Elder Signs.
• Along those lines, if all the PKs were vampires, you could put a Hall of Mirrors in the mansion, or maybe a Sun Room with tanning lights that actually hurt vampires. 
• If the murder took place of Halloween you could have trick or treaters show up (and maybe use water pistol to squirt holy water on the PKs), and/or have the get together for the murder be a costume party
• Oh, and if you are going all Agatha Christie here you could have Mr. Body fake his own death for some reason, like say he wanted to keep the PK combined fortunes, so he faked his own death. 
• Another take on the costume party would be if the murder were one of those "solve a muder" games that went horribly wrong. The hired servants/guards won't let any of the people inside leave until the murder has been solved, or time runs out, and they won't make exceptions even after the game turns real. If the Pks are humans then they would have until midnight, when everybody would unmask (and the PKs would be revealed to the monsters). If the PKs are monsters, say vampires, then they would need to get out and back to thier coffin by dawn, or before the fire-sprinklers come on (holy water).
• all the PKs were humans trying to solve the murder before midnight when everybody reveals themselves (and the monsters kill off the humans). The servants/guards won't let anybody leave before the murder has been solved. 

Just brainstorming some ideas there.

Sounds like Murder in Hotel Transylvania ha ha.🤣

[Atgxtg]

3 hours ago, Old Man Henerson said:

Sounds like Murder in Hotel Transylvania ha ha.🤣

You're beating a dead horse ( I wonder how it turned out, I sure hope seneschal killed someone.).

But there are a lot of ways to run with an idea like this. Spend  a weekend binge watch Twlight Zone, Night Gallery, Kolchak, any of the Tales From series, and your bound to come up with some ideas.

How about one where all the PCs get murdered at the start of the game, wake up as dead, ghosts, etc. and then have to solver thier own murders so their spirits move on into the afterlife  (the question is on the application)?

 

 

[Old Man Henerson]

1 hour ago, Atgxtg said:

You're beating a dead horse ( I wonder how it turned out, I sure hope seneschal killed someone.).

Remember, if you beat a dead horse long enough, it will rise up as a zombie horse to plague the world of man once more. Thus it is with fandoms and genres.

1 hour ago, Atgxtg said:

But there are a lot of ways to run with an idea like this. Spend  a weekend binge watch Twlight Zone, Night Gallery, Kolchak, any of the Tales From series, and your bound to come up with some ideas.

I couldn't agree more with that. When I was younger, I would watch episodes of Ancient Aliens with a clipboard in hand and write down ideas from whatever zany episode was on. A few of these ideas have even made their way into the book I am writing.

1 hour ago, Atgxtg said:

How about one where all the PCs get murdered at the start of the game, wake up as dead, ghosts, etc. and then have to solver thier own murders so their spirits move on into the afterlife  (the question is on the application)?

That is definitely one of the more interesting ideas I have heard.  You could also have it so while all the players are arguing and searching for who the murderer is, that Mr. Body is slowly transforming into a monster and will start to feed on the players or take them through his secret portal to Planet X to be eaten there.